it's about labor costs, but it's also about creating layers of lessening responsibility between those who solicit the kind of work and need if and those who do it. the headline stories this our, germany's rock by a deadly explosion of industrial park for chemical companies being to day on more than 30 when the environmental is old. so it's on the alarm over a huge cloyd of potentially toxic blocks. smoke created by the blood and also a head on the pro brother. hundreds of videos and images of on conscious naked women are found in the possession of a u. s. diplomat, who confess and stuff for more than what he brung sexually assaulted his victims in mexico city. and the american width of laura, daniel hale,

is sentenced to almost 4 years in prison for leaking classified details about washington drone assassination program. we get reaction from others. have chosen to make public lethal when we kill civilians and then put in the official reports that they weren't children for example, they were go. that is a war crime. it's really a war on through the night just with the government. is that war with its own people? ah rev your accounting, the program from today a warm welcome to moscow onto the news our own r. t artillery. a massive explosion has torn through an industrial park of chemical companies in western germany to people helping confirm dead and 31 more injured. the cause of the explosion remains on know,

or europe correspondent peter oliver reports from the c. just before 10 o'clock in the morning on tuesday when there was an explosion at the chemical park just behind me here. ah, it's been a huge clue. of black smoke into the sky could be seen for miles and miles around and caused huge panic amongst local residents. now, 2 people have confirmed to being killed on the site following the explosion, and the subsequent fire over 30 people were injured, some of those, and a very serious condition. there is also 3 people who remain missing following this explosion and fire the chaos which it caused well is still being felt. many hours

after the fire itself was put out. it took fire services 3 hours to do that. they were on the scene very quickly. hundreds of fire and police services on the scene, but it did take as they say over 3 hours for them to put bad out the traffic chaos that it is caused around the area here of labor cruise and is still on going. it's right in the evening now on tuesdays and speaking to you. a lot of the roads around here all fill very much heavily on the diversions this area in lay the cruising just to the north of the huge german city of cologne is incredible. hope for traffic, but also incredibly important when it comes to the chemical industry. this is one of the main centers for chemical giants of germany like, via and laxness. know it was this facility that they are connected to as well.

this particular area dealt with the disposal of waste. now that's still words on exactly what could have caused this explosion and fire, much of what is just over my shoulder a little bit further beyond those initial buildings has been destroyed by that. and it seems that the investigation into what caused this will go on for a while now. now there was huge concern in the immediate aftermath that something could have been put into the atmosphere, which would have caused grave danger to the millions of people that live in this part of germany. it's the most densely populated parts of the country. this area of north run with take seeing the major cities not only of lay the cruise and the load dusseldorf and the plume of smoke, the effects from the plume of smoke were felt as far away to the north west. as in wordpress as well. no people were told initially get inside, keep your windows and doors close and that was while tests were being carried out

to see if there was anything toxic in the air. it took a few hours for the emergency services to determine that there was no immediate risk. but this has certainly given a huge shock to the people of this area. and it has been an incredibly tragic incident. so those people working the cam park, the people behind it, the people responsible for this facility, expressing their condolences for the dead as people looking to try and determine what exactly caused this tragedy to take place here in germany. just to peters peace, local authorities war and the situation posed an extreme threat. while the colleges, fear toxins may have been released in to the atmosphere senior lecture and environmental sustainability and green technology. dr. sharon george said it's vital to find out fast what actually was discharged during the insolent to

potential a huge it's not just the issue, but the contamination that you can see. it's not contamination that you can't say this is this the what the black smoke they can see is particular that that is going to travel quite a distance from the side itself. so that was where the band i think is what we're concerned about is not just the immediate, the immediate range. and this is why the venture so significant because it's close to those populated areas. so we're going to have this pollution spreading a long way going fast, so to the door, it's going to be a gas in the other people. and also when, when he does settle, it may then move again, if he's soluble, if waynes and then they will travel again. the challenge here is, is to figure out exactly what is being despise and then to figure out how to contain it and how to make sure that it's not habits to people.

ok to another headline story today, and no former us diplomat in mexico has admitted for more than 14 years. we've been drugging and then raping numerous women. he pleaded guilty to filming at least 23 actons and could spend the rest of his life behind bars. but despite the scandalous stories gone largely on, reported by the american media with more in the years, dollar quarter sexual abuse is committed over a decade and 6 countries against drug to victims and documented in hundreds of videos and photos taken without consent. that's what a former worker at the u. s. embassy in mexico has just pleaded guilty to lose. i

i use brian. jeffrey raymond is now on trial back at home in the us, having worked for his government for 23 years in various missions across the world . other than that, we don't know much about his diplomatic career. the f. b, i launched an investigation into him after he abruptly left to mexico last year, shortly after a nude woman was seen screaming for help from the balcony of his mexico city apartment. she says she doesn't remember what happened the night before, except that he'd offered her food and drinks. eventually, the federal agents obtained warrant to search his home in the u. s. and was able to comb through his electronic devices, leading to a number of serious charges in march 2020, approximately 2 months before his interaction with a v 7 raymond also text the same friend mentioned above about having sexual intercourse with 8989. he's

a resident of mexico and primarily spanish speaker. he text to the same friend that he had to pay for a new birth for 89 and expressed that he was annoying, but ultimately was while, because he was able to have sex with her. raymond could face life in prison if convicted and the justice department is adamant on sending a tough message. brian raymond betrayed the trust, grunted to him as a u. s. government employee represent in the united states abroad by engaging years of predatory conduct sexually abusing exploiting and recording vulnerable women. he targeted in the united states and around the world. as demonstrated by ramon's prosecution and plea. the department of justice and law enforcement partners will use all of the tools that are disposal to hold accountable those who victimized women, despite the severity of the allegations, the confessions, and the potential impact on america's global reputation. for some reason, the mainstream media is not talking much about this story. i wonder why mainstream

media completely ignored the story as big as that becomes what, what we would call all over the world propaganda. where your media, your news reporting had become an arm of a political party or a political factions. we have to rely on for media outlets on anybody on regular civilian here in the us trying to post definitely stories like this. because that is public interest, much of the questions regarding did the f b. i know about the how many years today sweep this under the rug and still allow security clearance. people talk top secret clearance to go through for the person knowing what they knew. i mean, are they, in essence responsible, i mean, in a court of law with the climate this magnitude. if somebody knew about this and allowed the person to continue perpetuating these criminal act again into that condition, they call that aiding and abetting. they would call that they would call that

either conspiracy a knowledge to act or at the very least, $1818.00 a felon. and so these are the things that we need to know. an american whistleblower has been sentenced to almost 4 years in prison for leaking classified information about america's drone program while serving the bug room or base in afghanistan a decade ago. daniel hale helped identify targets for a fascination when he returned home in 2013. he shared secret details about the drone program, with journalists from the intercept revealing the true extent of civilian casualties in the middle east and africa. in march have pleaded guilty to leaking classified documents. we spoke to whistler and former us intelligence officer, john curry, aka, who attended hale's sentencing. hearing the mood was one of great apprehension, and the court room was packed for daniel hale. it was all quite dramatic, but we were apprehensive because we really didn't have any indication of which way

the judge was going to go. and then he surprised everyone by clearing the court room and sealing it for 2 hours. while the justice department argued in a classified venue for a sentence of 9 years to me, the fair verdict would have been to, to, for the judge to come off the bench, shake his hand, thank him for his service to the country and let him go home to his family, i didn't think he deserved any prison time at all because he revealed a crime that was being committed by the u. s. government, the crime of, of the murder of innocent civilians. these are war crimes. when, when we know that civilians are within the strike rage, that makes it a crime when we kill civilians and then put in the official report that they weren't children for example, they were goats. that is a war crime. and it became a matter of course, it became something that many drone operators and their supervisors were doing.

john kerry archive well ahead of the sentencing hail wrote a letter detailing some of the things he'd witnessed in his work, including the death of 2 children in one strike. he also slung the claim of former president obama, that drone killings abroad, protected americans. the policy of drone assassination was being used to mislead the public, that it keeps a safe whenever i encounter an individual who thinks that drove warfare is justified and reliably keeps america safe. i remember that time and ask myself how i could possibly continue to believe that i am a good person deserving of my life and the right to pursue happiness. me strode circle 24 hours a day and delivering deaths from the skies have turned most of the muslim world against us. it's been completely counterproductive and i think hail understood that and he sought to inform the american public. but we can't have

a debate. we don't know the truth and we know the truth about drones because of the courage of daniel. and it's not just about going after someone like hail, it's really kind of a death blow to the press itself because it prohibits the press from shining a light on the inner workings of ours. it's really the misuse of the espionage act which has been continued. or perhaps the most well known with laura hall, edward snowden has commented on the case on twitter. he condemned the court's decision and praise till we got reaction as well. from brandon bryant, a former us to an operator who also lifted the lid and what his work involved, he sees in the choice between ignoring civilian killings and making the public were his conscience, made up his mind. it's really a war on, through the nicest whistleblowers. we've got people that have been propagating this war over in the middle east for almost 2 decades. now. the government is at war with its own people. if you can't,

you're part of the machine. the car runs this machine, yet you have to bear witness for it. not just some unfeeling part of the machine you're dealing. and eventually you have to find yourself in the middle of that storm and be like, you know, this. i have to do. i have to do this because if i don't do it, who is going to, i find it strange that conscientious individuals that are inside the program that are trying to hold us accountable for the obvious blayton war crimes that we ourselves are doing are being punished and it seems that they're punishing people in order to make them an example. and that really does disturb me, especially if america supposed to be this great country and freedom fighter amongst the world. how we're punishing our own people who are trying to do this. this is our c with u. s. congress, hearing testimony into january capitol hill, riots the hearing is slum by critics, for

a lack of impartiality. most of those taking part well known further from use more love story, right after this short break. ah, much of history is about patterns or ebbs and flows of political passions. most of the time these passions are negotiated through compromise. other times there is people violence and even separation. the idea of succession today is not far fetch . we are witnessing a cultural session and separation couldn't go even further rather driven by dreamers shaped by those in

me dares thing. we dare to ask me. ah ah. hello again. tuesday saw the 1st hearing of a special us congressional panel tough with investigating the capitol hill riots back in january. the special commission consists of lawmakers from both parties. and while critics claim their minds all ready made up with most known for their

anti trump views. speaker and nancy pelosi has no issues with the lineup. i'm very pleased with the bipartisan nature of our committee with liz cheney, the other members on the committee who have experience and patriotism as their calling cart, as congress here is testimony about the events of january 6. the seems we've been hearing both police officers and politicians crying their eyes out. i was assaulted and nearly killed. i lost my life. there was a very good chance i would be torn apart. this is how i'm going to die. defending the sanctions, the indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful in a democracy or not defined by our bad days were defined by how we can backs and bang the bad days. how we take accountability

for that. i have faith because of folks like you and i am, i don't expect this will be quite so much later, but it must be an adam a thing to day. questions about about what kind of went wrong and whether or not the capital police allowed the protesters to enter. if they made a mistake or, or if somehow doors were left on guarded, what exactly happened? people are looking at this and saying it's not an impartial hearing. it's speaker the house, nancy pelosi was being widely blamed for the fact that you can gresham committee investigating the january 6 events which is convening today is hearing contains only anti trump, republicans. it is a bipartisan panel, but there are no trump supporters represented on it. there are simply anti trump democrats, as well as anti trump. republicans, this seems to be what congress is focusing on at the moment. amid surging coven cases, a continued migrant surge on the us border. rising inflation and poll saying that

more than half the countries say things are moving in the wrong direction. that is not what congress is focusing on. rather they have decided to re live and rehash the events of january 6th on capitol hill. well, they've democrats or word they're facing mid term elections. the economies in the toilet, the covey threatened to come back, we're told, and they have to do something to demonize their enemies. and that's what they're doing is pretty unprecedented. that the republican liter kevin mccarthy is choices to sit on the committee were rejected. certainly doesn't suggest that it's a bipartisan committee. the 2 people that pillows he chose instead of them are to who voted to impeach trumpet that serves the purpose. purpose of this is not to get to the bottom of what happened on january 6th. i don't support people who do violence. people who attack police officers, of course they should be prosecuted. let's not forget in the summer of 2020, in just one so called protest in front of the white house. 60 secret service agents were hurt or injured by george floyd riders. we never had these gut wrenching

hearings like this crying in front of the cameras, which we saw younger. do and others do it today for them. i have that. i am not a trump voter. i am not a republican, but it's very clear what this is about. to be, to show trial is to establish a narrative, and it's very, very ugly. it's the 6 of the tokyo olympic games on, amid all the races for a gold things are getting heated russian tennis star dmitri, me a bit, hit back out a question during a press conference he feels was wildly inappropriate right after his latest, when more on this less cross live to ortiz electra. you're a chef ski electra good to see a tough clash on the courts and searing heat for the world. number 2, and then this particular line of questioning, he wasn't happy, was he take us through the story? well indeed you would think that the olympic games is all about sports and you know, it's the primal sports across the planet. something the athletes are preparing

usually for 3 or 4 years to take off, maybe even all their lives. but this time it's turning very, very political take the case of the new me, the good if worlds number 2, i'm definitely rushes best tennis player who just spend hours on an absolutely blazing court and not blazing in terms of the game played. but in terms of the actual heat, he nearly collapsed on the court as well. he walks out after the, after the, when he's getting asked by one of the journalists is whether russians, by taking part in the olympics are sheets. this is the actual exchange between the i just add the journalist. first time in my life, i'm not going to answer a question. you should be embarrassed if itself, i think you should. why are him from the lympics? i don't want to see him again. so the actual initial question by the journalist is whether he felt that russia's participation in the olympics was cheating in itself as, as we seen earlier, demanded that the germans be barred from continuing his coverage of the olympics.

but the international tennis federation had this stun responds to the world's number 2 please. the journalist asked a question, inventive did not like journalists have the right to ask anything and we have no right to deprive anyone of accreditation since there is an elim pick accreditation here. perhaps you should off the i o. c. good to me. maybe just call a good catch you on the phone. also noted that every single press conference is riddled with questions about russia, doping scandals of the parts about russia participation in the olympics. and i'd like to remind you is that after years long doping cases and rushes fight in courts, russia was eventually allowed to take part in the tokyo olympics. but under the name of r o c, it's an acronym for the russian olympic committee. and even that name cannot be named in full, it's goes as r o c. so that is the limitation in itself. nevertheless,

even the opening rest conference at the tokyo olympics, it last about an hour 20 minutes long, 45 minutes of which were dedicated to russia's participation on a different name in the olympic games this time. and despite all that, despite all this pressure coming from all side, because not only trying to plan, but obviously the athletes and all other disciplines are being asked questions like that, trying to ignore them all the time. despite all that, russia or the r o c. if you may, is performing very well right now. it stands for and the overall metal table nearing on its 20 a metal in the olympics and day 6. and that is something that's many journalists, but typically those sports related not politics related, cannot avoid as they note that russia is performing, or the r o c is performing very well at the olympic. but we'll see how obviously this continues because this has been the trends and say want even before the olympic started and i will keep you up to date with everything that's happening until you actually thanks very much for bringing us right up to date. indeed,

on all of our t alexi your ship ski know thousands of national guard members not being mobilized in california to help battle fierce wildfires. feel assisted. 22 scholars and firefighters now attempting to bring the situation under control tend to dry conditions resulting from a severe dry sub seen the fire spread rapidly with some experts warning the worst. this still i had in late summer early bought them another country hits hard by wildfires is grief were ablaze, described as one of the biggest nations experience in the past 30 years. as in gulf down area close to the country. capital, a number of homes have been destroyed, all rights and several villages evacuated to. and just finally, i want to bring you some extraordinary scenes from china, sunstorm and gulf,

that entire city in the north west of the country, towering in 100 meters in height. it turned the sky yellow and reduced visibility to just a few meters, causing havoc for drivers here on local roads. what are you doing? cross top rows ex debates, discussion rev dock tongue. sometimes it's even polite, peter and guests read in. stay with me in my phone, i didn't, i don't, i just

saw up to the former isis fighters and they're now boarding a philippine naval ship in the john 9. jeff, aren't abdulla still don't know, watch waiting for them. can i get a hold of me? i want to make no, certainly no borders and the blind to tease you

as we don't have authority, we go to the back seen the whole world leads to take action and be ready. people are judge governors crisis, we can do better, we should be better. everyone is contributing each in their own way, but we also know that this crisis will not go on forever. the challenge is paid for the response has been massive. so many good people are helping us. it makes it feel very proud that we need together in the the, the,

the, the, the ah, with ah hello and welcome to cross ok. we're all things are considered. i'm peter lavelle. much of history is about patterns that are ebbs and flows of political passions. most of the time these passions are negotiated through compromise. other times there is people violence and even separation. the idea of succession today is not far fetched. we are witnessing a cultural possession, and separation could go even further. the, the cross talking succession, i'm joined by my guess. daniela's are in new york, he is a journalist and author of 3 books on the us constitution. and in toronto,

we have arthur claire. oh, he is a liberty advocate and freelance editor gentlemen close to girls and a fact that means you can jump in anytime you want. and i always appreciate, daniel, let me go to you 1st. i mean we hear new civil war, cultural, civil war culture war. it's been a while that's been with us for a while. we have a president, the united states is constantly invoking. this is vito as bad as it was before the civil war. and you know, we hear it's almost like a battle him right now. i mean, it's this high per bully because when i hear it, it sets everybody off on all sides. go ahead, daniel. no, i don't think it's really hyperbolic. i think it's really in certain ways, biden is quite accurate. what we saw in the years leading up to the civil war in 18 . 61 was a very small minority of southern large scale southern slaveholders, really only a few 1000 people in all were able to use their constitutional advantages.